H.R. 4407 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 4407 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 4, 2014 Mr. Luetkemeyer (for himself and Mr. Harper) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to set reasonable limits on the stringency and timing of proposed regulations for new residential wood heaters, new residential hydronic heaters, new forced-air furnaces, and new residential masonry heaters, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Wood Stove Regulatory Relief Act of 2014. 2. Regulation of new residential wood heaters, new residential hydronic heaters, new forced-air furnaces, and new residential masonry heaters (a) Prohibition During the period specified in subsection (c), the Administrator may not finalize, issue, implement, or enforce any rule described in subsection (b) unless such rule meets the requirements described in subsection (d). (b) Rules Subsection (a) applies with respect to— (1) the proposed rule entitled Standards of Performance for New Residential Wood Heaters, New Residential Hydronic Heaters and Forced-Air Furnaces, and New Residential Masonry Heaters published at 79 Fed. Reg. 6330 (February 3, 2014) or any successor or substantially similar rule; and (2) any other rule under section 111 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411) that is applicable to any new source that is a residential wood heater, a residential hydronic heater, a forced-air furnace, or a residential masonry heater. (c) Applicability This Act applies during the 8-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act. (d) Requirements (1) Numeric emission limits During the period specified in subsection (c), in finalizing or issuing any rule described in subsection (b), the Administrator may not establish a particulate matter emissions limit— (A) for adjustable rate wood heaters or pellet heaters/stoves that were, on or before the effective date of the rule, certified as being in compliance with any applicable standard of performance for particulate matter, that is less than 4.5 grams of particulate matter per hour; (B) for all other adjustable rate wood heaters, single burn rate wood heaters, or pellet heaters/stoves, that is less than 4.5 grams of particulate matter per hour; (C) for any residential hydronic heater, that is less than 0.32 pound per million British thermal unit heat output as measured under ASTM E2618–13 Standard Test Method for Measurement of Particulate Emissions and Heating Efficiency of Solid Fuel-Fired Hydronic Heating Appliances using either cordwood or cribs; or (D) for any forced-air furnace, that is less than 0.93 pound per million British thermal unit heat output. (2) Transition period During the period specified in subsection (c), in finalizing or issuing any rule described in subsection (b), the Administrator shall— (A) with respect to a residential wood heater that was certified on or before the effective date of the rule by the Administrator as in compliance with any applicable emissions limit in effect prior to the date of enactment of this Act— (i) provide that such certification shall remain valid until the date that is five years after such heater was certified; and (ii) permit any such heater to be manufactured and sold at retail until the date that is five years after such heater was certified; (B) with respect to a forced-air furnace— (i) except as provided in clause (ii)— (I) that is manufactured on or before the effective date of such rule, permit such forced-air furnace to be sold at retail for a period of at least one year after such effective date; or (II) that is manufactured after the effective date of such rule, not require such forced-air furnace to meet any applicable particulate matter emissions limit set forth in such rule until the date that is at least one year after such effective date; or (ii) that was tested under Canadian Standards Administration B415.1–10 test protocol on or before the effective date of the rule and met a particulate matter emissions limit of 0.93 pound per million British thermal unit heat output, permit such forced-air furnace to be manufactured and sold at retail for a period of five years after such effective date; and (C) with respect to a hydronic heater that— (i) is a qualified model, deem such hydronic heater to be certified as in compliance with any otherwise applicable emissions limit under such rule for the duration of the period it would be considered a qualified model, but in no case for a period of less than 3 years beginning on the effective date of such rule; or (ii) is not a qualified model and that is manufactured on or before the effective date of such rule, permit such hydronic heater to be sold at retail for a period of at least one year after such effective date. (3) Certification procedures (A) Independent Accredited Third Party Testing and Certification During the period specified in subsection (c), in finalizing or issuing any rule described in subsection (b), the Administrator shall provide that certifications of compliance with any applicable emissions limit under such rule be issued by independent third party laboratories accredited as certification bodies under ISO/IEC 17065, based on testing performed by the certification body or another laboratory accredited under ISO/IEC 17025 to perform certification testing. (B) Limited role of EPA During the period specified in subsection (c), in finalizing or issuing any rule described in subsection (b), the Administrator shall provide that the Environmental Protection Agency’s role in any certification or auditing process provided in such rule shall be limited to conducting selective audits of the testing, certification, and quality assurance/quality control functions performed by certification bodies or test laboratories that are accredited by the ISO. (e) Definitions In this Act: (1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. (2) ISO The term ISO means the International Organization for Standardization. (3) ISO/IEC 17025 The term ISO/IEC 17025 means the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission standard number 17025. (4) ISO/IEC 17065 The term ISO/IEC 17065 means the International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission standard number 17065. (5) New source The term new source has the meaning given such term in section 111(a)(2) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411(a)(2)). (6) Standard of performance The term standard of performance has the meaning given such term in section 111(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411(a)(1)). (7) Qualified model The term qualified model means, with respect to a hydronic heater, a model that had been shown to meet performance levels established by the Administrator under a voluntary partnership program in effect prior to the date of enactment of this Act.